MANAGUA : The first major storm of the Atlantic season barreled Sunday across the Yucatan Peninsula, after unleashing landslides and floods that killed at least 10 people in Nicaragua, Guatemela and El Salvador.

Downgraded to a tropical depression, Alex was expected to restrengthen as it heads back out over the Gulf of Mexico.

Although it was not due to directly hit the massive BP oil spill off the southern US state of Louisiana, the storm could still generate waves that would hamper clean-up and containment efforts.

Officials in Nicaragua told AFP the bodies of six people had been found in or around the northern city of Esteli, swept to their deaths by torrents from the swollen San Lucas river.

In eastern El Salvador, on Central America`s Pacific coast, two people drowned when they were carried away by strong currents near San Miguel, while more than 500 people were evacuated to shelters from high-risk areas.

In western Guatemala, two farmers working on a road improvement project were buried and killed by a rain-triggered landslide, the national emergency agency Conred reported.

"Alex is expected to become a tropical storm again on Monday," the National Hurricane Center (NHC), based in Miami, Florida said, adding it would dump 10 to 20 centimeters (four to eight inches) of rain over the Yucatan Peninsula, southern Mexico and Guatemala through Monday afternoon.

Up to 38 centimeters of rain were possible in mountainous areas and forecasters warned of "life-threatening flash floods and mudslides."

By late Sunday, Tropical Depression Alex was over Belize, according to Conred, moving in a west-northwesterly direction with maximum sustained winds of around 55 kilometers (35 miles) per hour.

Central America was slammed last month by Tropical Storm Agatha, which roared ashore into Guatemala from the Pacific, unleashing heavy rains and floods that left some 275 people dead or missing.

BDST : 0912 HRS , June 28, 2010
SIS